Barbara Hale is an American actress best known for her role as legal secretary Della Street

Della Street

Della Street was the fictional secretary of Perry Mason in the long-running series of novels, films, and radio and television programs featuring the fictional defense attorney created by Erle Stanley Gardner.-Description:...

 on more than 250 episodes of the long-running Perry Mason

Perry Mason (TV series)

Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...

television series and later reprising the role in dozens of made-for-TV movies.
Hale was born in DeKalb, Illinois

DeKalb, Illinois

DeKalb is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 43,862 at the 2010 census, up from 39,018 at the 2000 census. The city is named after decorated German war hero Johann De Kalb, who died during the American Revolutionary War....

, to Luther Ezra Hale, a landscape gardener, and his wife Wilma Colvin. She is of Scots-Irish ancestry. Hale graduated from high school in Rockford, Illinois, and then attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, planning to become an artist.